For Better, For Worse: British Marriages, 1600 to the Present

The history of marriage is commonly thought of as an evolution from cold, impersonal arrangements to new, more affectionate and egalitarian forms of conjugality. For Better, For Worse, the most comprehensive treatment to date of the history of marriage in a major Western society, presents a radically different perspective on both past and present marriages. Using fresh evidence from popular courtship and wedding rites since the 17th century, John Gillis argues that love was never wholly absent in the past and that the passage of time has by no means produced a perfect conjugality today.